and fall of circuit city," and to some degree, there's uncomfortable truths when you think about nations and companies, there's rise and fall stories r and hopefully the united states is not on the fall side of this, plu political campaigns are a lousy time to think about the hard truths of what's happening. one of the hard truths about the panel is we're five white guys. [laughter] we try to figure out how we could divvy this. we're four tall guys and doug. [laughter] we're very well aware of this. you would not believe how busy -- we did have a more diverse crowd, but for all of those e-mailing saying we want to bill you in, a conversation, we know. it's there. what i want to get into today and talk a little about are the strategic economic choices facing the nation, and what's that mean? in particular, when you talk about strategy in economics, is there something more funmental about the way the united states is positioned in the world, what its choices are. michael porter here with us, michael, wave so they know who you are. we are not very diverse. [laughter] he's a distinguished pr
